The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-12-07
The Habit of Paying as You Can.
PHILADELPHIA Ledger.

Archdeacon Paley said that he furnished
the ladies of his family with ready money
for their shopping; 1t was such check
upon the Imagination. Persons who are
familiar with the retail trade will, upon
this theory, cOncede that the buying
world has crown less imaginative than
formerly. The proportion of cash paid
over shop counters has become much
larger than In the old times, though
there is vet room to make IL larger. The
labor and expense of book. keeping have
been very much lessened and Its processes
simpli6ed. OF course these are relations
between the retailers and certain OF their
customers in which the old habi. of credit
is still followed, yet as q rule monthly
statements" are rendered. Payment with
in thirty days is by mercantile the fiction
accounted cash"
The demand for currency is not materi-
ally lessened by the giving of credit in
small transactions. There IS enough of
currency in circulation to enable all retail
trade to be done through the medium OF
actual cash, cash down. The ladies, who
get vslue for their money, know what
they want, and seek till they find it, IN
bound by any condition, expressed or
implied, TO buy at particular places. The
actual value Of the commodity is the
only question considered. Buyer and sell
Ter are mutually pleased with their bar
gain, and both are benefited.
There is q moral as we'll as an economic
aspect in retail transactions. Where the
indt finite limits-or no limits-of an open
account exist, the buyer does not always
consider the obligation of debt. The
seller, on his SIDE, may regard himself en-
titled to an overcharge, to cover waiting or
other contingencies. The casual buyer On
credit, ct retail, has little opportunity 20
cheaper. The buyer for cash has little
need. She holds the advantage in her
hand, for holding the cash she knows that
the seller desires his money quite as much
as she covets her merchandise. He will not
readily lose an opportunity for good
sale, completed at once.
But the worst form of credit is where the
several members Of a family, young and
old, and domestics as well as the employers,
ale all permitted to order goods and have
them charged" Many family disputes
aid more expressions of surprise come up
with the unexpected amount of the &C.
count rendered. 1t is sometimes unhsppily
the case that actual dishonesty occurs, and
it occasionally happens that extravaganza
is the result of an open account" In a
moral sense all purchases fall below the
standard Of strict integrity when the
DUyer IS not fairly sure of his ability to
pay within a reasonable time. If he is
looking for future receipts. ana the
seller is made to understand this and is
willing to take the risk, the trade is fair
enough. But the debtor then becomes
subject to the forbearsnce of the seller,
and may, il he defaults, be charged with
dishonesty.
In the family training of children one
of the most important things to be taught
by practice. as we'll as precept, is strict
honesty, and this cannot be where debt is
not regarded as a serious obligation.
Nothing is too small to be regarded in the
question of property, and no liberties
should be taken and no evasions or Sc
cresy be permitted even in little transac-
tioDs. The. beginning of great wrongs is
in trifling errors, The child in whose way
a penny is not safe may become a danger
Gus man when dollars tempt him,